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Germania

by Simon Winder

Simon Winder presents a unique exploration of German culture, from sausage advertisements to Wagner, in this Sunday Times top-ten bestseller. Now reissued with a fresh cover look.Sitting on a bench at a communal table in a restaurant in Regensburg, his plate loaded with disturbing amounts of bratwurst and sauerkraut made golden by candlelight shining through a massive glass of beer, Simon Winder was happily swinging his legs when a couple from Rottweil politely but awkwardly asked: "So, why are you here?" This book is an attempt to answer that question. Why spend time wandering around a country that remains a sort of dead zone for many foreigners, surrounded as it is by a force field of historical, linguistic, climatic, and gastronomic barriers?Winder's book is propelled by a wish to reclaim the brilliant, chaotic, endlessly varied German civilization that the Nazis buried and ruined, and that, since 1945, so many Germans have worked to rebuild. Accessible, enthusiastic, and startlingly vivid, Germania is a remarkably funny book on serious topics - how we are misled by history, how we twist history, and how sometimes it is best to know no history at all. It is a book full of curiosities: odd food, castles, mad princes, fairy tales, and horse-mating videos. It is about the limits of language, the meaning of culture, and the pleasure of townscape."This trot through German culture and history is an engrossing, informative and hilarious read." - Sunday Times
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NON FICTION
EUROPEAN HISTORY
HISTORY

on order from publisher

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Pages:

480

Published:

Feb 2020

Format

Paperback

Publisher

Pan Macmillan

Imprint

Picador

ISBN:

9781529026153

Simon Winder presents a unique exploration of German culture, from sausage advertisements to Wagner, in this Sunday Times top-ten bestseller. Now reissued with a fresh cover look.Sitting on a bench at a communal table in a restaurant in Regensburg, his plate loaded with disturbing amounts of bratwurst and sauerkraut made golden by candlelight shining through a massive glass of beer, Simon Winder was happily swinging his legs when a couple from Rottweil politely but awkwardly asked: "So, why are you here?" This book is an attempt to answer that question. Why spend time wandering around a country that remains a sort of dead zone for many foreigners, surrounded as it is by a force field of historical, linguistic, climatic, and gastronomic barriers?Winder's book is propelled by a wish to reclaim the brilliant, chaotic, endlessly varied German civilization that the Nazis buried and ruined, and that, since 1945, so many Germans have worked to rebuild. Accessible, enthusiastic, and startlingly vivid, Germania is a remarkably funny book on serious topics - how we are misled by history, how we twist history, and how sometimes it is best to know no history at all. It is a book full of curiosities: odd food, castles, mad princes, fairy tales, and horse-mating videos. It is about the limits of language, the meaning of culture, and the pleasure of townscape."This trot through German culture and history is an engrossing, informative and hilarious read." - Sunday Times
$25.00